by Finian Blake
“Nadia this is Boris. I have tracked this group down to Saudi Salafi fundamentalist radicals. They appeared to be acting without the knowledge of the Saudi government. I’ve contacted the CIA and they have referred the matter directly to the King whom I believe has no knowledge of these actions.”
“Thank you Boris, we will continue to monitor the situation and disrupt any plans that they have developed from this side. I believe that the Saudi government will take the appropriate steps from their side since his group represents a direct threat to the recognized government.” Nadia added a final comment. “The Royal family will want to handle this in their own way.” Boris was greatly relieved to hear this final comment, since it showed good judgment on the part of the leadership of the organization that he would be working for. Even though Boris was slightly crazy he was still an extremely intelligent man in did not want to associate himself with lunatics wanting to start their own subculture. He had enough of that back in Russia.
“Thank you Nadia, I will continue to monitor Nabil and Sabir’s communications giving the NSA and CIA full updates without going through you.” Boris was thrilled that they hadn’t presented him with requests for any actions that he could not perform for them.
Rajiya and Safiyyah met Rudy for breakfast at the corner diner. She barely recognized him in normal clothes. Rudy made it a point to dress presentably in a collared dress shirt and Dockers. Rajiya reappraised Rudy, he was only a few years older than she was and quite handsome.
“Rajiya, is this the man that almost ran you over yesterday?” Safiyyah nodded toward Rudy. “Be thankful that he has good reflexes.”
“I most certainly am. That would have been a messy accident. Rudy took the time to be sure that I was alright. He was a real gentleman.” Rajiya blushed, “He even understood when I told him that you must join us for breakfast.”
“I was distracted or it wouldn’t even have been close. I just feel really bad that I even scared your friend and would like to buy both of you breakfast to apologize. I hope that you will accept,” Rudy asked sincerely.
“Rajiya told me what you do for a living. Isn’t that messy?” Safiyyah asked.
“No, with all of the hoses and seals I seldom see what I’m pumping. Despite what it sounds like the whole procedure is very sanitary.” The waitress came taking their orders and leaving. Rudy went on to explain for an hour and a half what he did on his job being very much surprised when Rajiya and Safiyyah asked him to show them how he did it. Rudy agreed to meet them just before noon at the fairgrounds. Rajiya took several short movies to document the actions that Rudy used in the performance of his job. There were several times at each stop that Rudy was required to leave the truck unattended so there would be no problem in leaving the other truck in a populated space. Rudy was so taken with Rajiya that he never questioned the reason for her interest.
It was late afternoon before Rajiya and Safiyyah returned to Camden industrial Park to meet Jibril and Uzma who were busy unpacking all the tools that would be required to camouflage the truck. Safiyyah set up her laptop computer and downloaded the pictures and movies that Rajiya had taken through the day. Jibril was thrilled to find out all that was necessary would be to change the signs on the truck and add a few hoses.
“The basic colors of both trucks are white which takes the pressure off doing a major paint job. The only thing that needs to be changed are the trim colors and the signs.” Jibril was almost giddy when he figured out that he would only need a few days of work to accomplish the change. “I can remove the inspection plate and install the fittings for the high-pressure lines having the work done in a machine shop. I can set up an arrangement to mount four high-pressure oxygen cylinders under the curve of the tank but the big problem is that waste dump hose that we need to camouflage the truck with. Uzma do you think that you can find the hose online it doesn’t have to be exact but it should appear to be close.” Uzma fired up her laptop computer leaving Rajiya and Safiyyah to observe the routines that they recorded on their phones.
After twenty minutes of searching Uzma had found the exact hose unfortunately the price was 500 dollars.
“Uzma that is too much money for a little bit of camouflage,” Rajiya said sounding a little disappointed.
“Then you have somebody else to do the work,” Jibril said looking more than a little disgusted. “That is a specialized hose and you can see from a long-distance off if it is a phony. Do you want to ruin your whole plan by saving a few dollars?”
“Then we will have the hose here as soon as it can be ordered,” Rajiya knew that Jibril was correct and was not in the mood to play. Jibril smiled at the quick concession.
“Then my work will be done in three days and I will leave you to your misdeeds.” Jibril walked over to finish unpacking the compressor and assemble his painting equipment making it obvious that he was not in the mood to waste time. Uzma made the call to the supplier in Chicago and had the supplier ship the hose out using next day service.
After claiming his Toyota Camry Felix drove down to the warehouse district. He was starving but all that he could eat were milkshakes or baby food since that little bitch broke his jaw when she kicked his teeth out. Felix observed people going in and out of the building all day losing count of the exact number of people remaining in the building. Felix observed the cluster of five people walking out of the alley and believed the building to be empty. He tested the side door finding it to be open and quietly slipped inside. Felix crouched down behind a support post listening for any signs of habitation. All of a sudden a young woman about twenty-five years of age walked in the door behind where he was standing. Felix made a sudden move to leave. The young lady caught the motion out of the corner of her eye she swung her purse blindly catching Felix on the right side of his jaw. A flash of pain went directly to Felix’s brain and he passed out cold before he could scream.
Felix awoke to find his hands and feet tied painfully with electrical wire. His jaw was hammering pain that kept him on the verge of blacking out. He could detect a young lady talking rapidly on the phone, in another language.
“Maalik, I just returned from buying lunch for Jibril and when I walked in the door I was jumped by a man that was carrying identification from the Attorney General’s office. What am I going to do?”
“Uzma, what have you done so far?”
“We have tied his hands and feet and he is just returned to consciousness. It looks as if his jaws been broken his face is swollen and he has a black eye. We went through his pockets finding money and an identification from the Attorney General’s office but he looks like a ragged bum. His clothes are all mismatched and do not fit properly.”
“You have to interrogate him.” Maalik was losing patience.
“I am the stupid woman that you don’t even trust to go to the store, remember.”
“Then have Jibril interrogate him.” Maalik was losing patience.
“As you have said Jibril is just a stupid mechanic that cares nothing for our cause.” Uzma was beginning to enjoy throwing Maalik’s words back in his face. “What we need is somebody intelligent like yourself who would know how to conduct an interrogation.”
“Well call Nabil!” Maalik was getting extremely desperate.
“Nabil is at home packing to leave. Rajiya and Safiyyah are packing and checking out of the dorm. When Jibril is finished with his job I will be returning home with him.” Uzma made no attempt to hide the sound of disgust in her voice. “Your bomb will be ready in three days so my next question is, have you selected a target yet?”
“You can’t leave! I will have no one to assist me with loading the bomb.” Maalik was just a step away from full-blown panic.
“I am just a stupid woman, but I understand one thing. The bomb would be useless without a target and you have not made that decision yet. If you would like to negotiate with Nabil, I suggest you call him before he gets on the airplane. We will hang on to this Felix for you. If you want to extract any infor
mation from him, you will have to do it yourself.” Uzma and Jibril moved Felix to one of the small offices tying him securely to one of the desk’s leaving him to his agony. Felix had a little over $5,000 on him which would buy both people their tickets home. Uzma called the airline booking the tickets.
Edward awoke with a start. Waiting for his spirit to rejoin his body was driving him crazy. He sprinted down to the barn to join Nadia and Layla who were giving the girls a riding lesson.
“Nadia I have good news and bad news. Jibril will be finished with converting the truck in two days. Everybody but Khalid and Maalik are returning home. It looks like everything will be finished in three days.”
“Good I would like to get Cher out of here, so that she can begin her new life. Thomas can settle his family into a routine and we can get to the most important issue.”
“And what would that be?” Edward was searching for any priorities that he might have missed.
“The big question is; did Colleen landed Adam?” Nadia laughed as she turned her back on Edward watching Sue parade her new horse around the corral with Cher and the German shepherd, Tom looking on. If that is the case Cherry will be looking for a new accountant before Colleen even starts. They are due back around to noon.
Nadia and Layla could not stand the anticipation so they borrowed Four Diamonds helicopter flying up to the Greenbrier to pick up Adam and Colleen. Nadia and Layla had to wait by the helicopter for almost an hour before Adam and Colleen came running up to the helipad. Nadia flipped the switches on the Bell Jet Ranger while Layla held the door open for the lovebirds.
“I’m sorry were late, but Colleen just had to have a quick one before we left.” Adam blurted out making Colleen blush.
“Adam…! How could you?” Colleen exclaimed.
“It wasn’t easy but I managed.” Adam laughed out loud, as Nadia could almost feel the heat from Colleen’s blush. Adam stopped laughing when Layla sat down in the pilot seat. “Hey doesn’t the pilot set there?”
“Yes brother dear,” Layla said as she took the controls, “I have about 500 hours now.” The helicopter rose to about 500 feet off the ground and Layla let the controls wobble just to test Adam’s nerve.
“Have you taken out your flight insurance?” Nadia laughed as Adam blanched and fastened the seat belt. Layla edged nose forward and flew to the Four Diamonds helicopter pad. Everybody was laughing heartily by the time Layla pulled in smoothly and flared for a landing.
Edward met the helicopter as it landed waiting for Layla to shut the engines down. Layla did not care for the look in Edward’s face.
“Maalik’s turned the leadership over to Nabil and they have selected a Baltimore Orioles baseball game as their target. The Orioles are in first place and the stadium has been filling up for every game and there are huge tailgate parties in the parking lot. The really bad news is that there are at least fifteen port-a-potties placed in the parking lots at either end of the stadium for the tail gaiters. The three women have elected to stay and are planning to participate. They are closing out their dorm rooms and moving into the warehouse as a security measure. Jibril is planning on having the camouflage and the truck finished by Thursday.”
“Shit,” Nadia pounded the control panel of the helicopter, “do you have any other good news for us?”
“Do you mean something like Felix stumbling into the warehouse and being taken hostage?” The look on Edward’s face clearly showed that he was not kidding.
“Maybe they will put him out of our misery and we won’t have to watch out for him.” Colleen had absolutely no love for Felix and was secretly hoping that they truly might put him out of his misery. “After what Nadia has told us on the way back about Cher and Sue, it really doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”
“Well I wanted to tell Tom first. He will need to talk to Randal and his group before we make any solid plans. Thomas wants to keep the whole operation as legal as possible, plus we need some kind of an indication of what the Saudis are going to do about Sabir. Nadia you and Ted handle the international end of Four Diamonds do you think they will tap any of your resources?”
“From my personal experience with the Saudis I am sure that they will want to handle any business being conducted on their soil,” Ted said without hesitation. The Salafi fundamentalists are a strong group within the country and the King must use caution when dealing with them. They control the religious police and have a strong influence throughout especially in the West. I think that it would be wise to let our friend Felix ‘stew’ for a while unless there is imminent danger. I have some ideas on the matter but I would like to talk to Thomas first before initiating any actions since this is his corner of the world for Four Diamonds.” Nadia had selected Tom Thomas to run the North American division and was not about to step on his toes.
Cherry and Rhonda had just finished her discussion with Boris in his computer lab monitoring the terrorists. Nabil had just finished sending Sabir an email regarding the capture of Felix Owens inside the warehouse. It was a brief message that would get Sabir to go to the Internet café, but Boris knew what he was looking for and this was a hard-core proof of what he needed to present to the Saudi’s security service. Within a half hour Sabir and Nabil were cryptically chatting online about the need for action. Sabir instructed Nabil to take charge of the group not wanting to miss an opportunity like this. Without detailing his plan Nabil assured Sabir that the whole operation would be concluded within seven days.
The satellite phone at the temp service buzzed briefly before Randal answered. Thomas was on the line relaying Edward’s news and calling for a meeting at the temp service without delay. No sooner had Randal hung up when the satellite phone buzzed again with Cherry advising Randal of Nabil’s emails. Once again Randal called for a meeting at the temp service not wanting to make a decision until he had both stories coordinated. It only took a half hour for all parties to arrive. Since the matter was not an official FBI investigation Tom Thomas was asked to referee. Tom listened to the information that Edward and Layla presented after which he turned to listen to the information that Boris had to present.
“Since we have no official recommendations from any government agencies I would like to ask Randal if he wants to turn this whole matter over to the FBI. The FBI is the agency that needs to respond to domestic terrorist threats. Randal if you will call the director and give them a full briefing on the situation I would like to hear what his inclinations are.”
“Tom that is an excellent idea, I have a feeling that anything beyond this point will require approval from a higher authority.”
Randal picked up the satellite phone dialing the director’s personal number. After thirty minutes of presenting the intelligence Randal presented his final piece of information.
“Mister Director I do have to add that Felix Owens blundered into the warehouse and that the terrorists are holding him there as a hostage.”
“Randal do you think that there is a possibility that they could kill Felix?”
“Director in a hostage situation that is always a possibility however we believe that he will be safe for the moment.” Randal said in a non-committal way knowing they were being recorded.
“Randal we have a problem if we bust them now the only thing we can get is unlawful detention of Felix Owens, but Felix was guilty of breaking and entering that property which was lawfully rented to Maalik. All of weapons and gun powder that they purchased was purchased legally and none of the pipe segments have black powder in them according to your information so they still have not built a single bomb. They purchased the truck legally and moved it across state lines with all the proper permits and still have ten days in which to legally register the truck. The chemicals are still sitting in the waste dump in Fort Mead so technically the truck is not a bomb either even though it has been modified so at the very worst they can only be charged with illegally storing hazardous materials which is a misdemeanor. Even a cheap lawyer could get them released within
seventy-two hours.”
“Director you know exactly what they are planning and what they are intending are you telling me that we can’t do a thing?”
“Randal we can do something but as far as what they have actually done they have only committed a few misdemeanors and as far as Felix is concerned he has escaped from a mental institution, being guilty of breaking and entering in a property that was lawfully rented by this group. The real kicker is that he is a member of the Justice Department and has entered the building illegally to do an illegal search, so a first-year law student could get that thrown out of court. Under the homeland security act we can investigate them for terrorism but right now at this moment the only thing we can do is charge him with a few misdemeanors. Since the truck lawfully crossed state lines they haven’t technically violated any federal statutes. I want this group and I want them bad but I am not going to bust them for jaywalking or littering. At the very best I can get them deported but that will leave them free to do the same thing somewhere else.”
“But Director…”
“But nothing Randal, it seems like you have a solid source of information and we need to continue with that. I will have the folks in legal go over your information with a fine tooth comb. In the meantime, much of your information is either conjecture or obtained illegally so we will be waiting for something that can be presented in court without being thrown out. We have worked with Tom Thomas before and I am personally aware of his extra-legal activities. What I would like you to do is continue working in the same vein that you have been working in and keep your reports coming directly through my office.” Everyone in the room could see the frustration on Randal’s face as he broke the connection. Randal looked hopefully at Tom.
“What the director says is true. I suggest that we develop a contingency plan keeping it just a little bit to the right of the law. The one point where they are vulnerable is the fact that they have to load the truck with whatever chemicals they need to make the bomb with so at some point in time they will have to go to the Fort Meade toxic waste dump with the truck. Boris, why don’t you contact your friend in the FBI labs? See if he has evaluated the potential of their weapon.”